


the tiger heist job

by starkly



Series: you've been thunderstruck [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, M/M, Pre-Slash, Teambuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:00:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28233555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: They hadn’t been a team for long. At first it had been a single job, a group of skilled individuals coming together for a heist none of them could’ve pulled off alone. A couple of them had been on Tony’s radar before this, but none of them had ever worked together until Rogers put them together. And then they just...never broke up.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Thor
Series: you've been thunderstruck [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064666
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	the tiger heist job

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2020 and [posted here](https://aleator.tumblr.com/post/634800722595233792) on my tumblr writing blog. This fic was proofread before being uploaded here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Prompts taken from the AU-gust 2020 challenge list on Twitter. Day Twelve: Crime AU.
> 
> This is basically the start of a Leverage AU, but you don't need to know anything about Leverage to read it. You should definitely watch Leverage though.

They hadn’t been a team for long. At first it had been a single job, a group of skilled individuals coming together for a heist none of them could’ve pulled off alone. A couple of them had been on Tony’s radar before this, but none of them had ever worked together until Rogers put them together. And then they just...never broke up.

It’s a cushy gig, even though they don’t keep most of what they steal. Sometimes money isn’t even involved. They right wrongs, as Rogers puts it. Tony had never really put his hacking skills to good use before, not like this, but he’s gotta admit this isn’t too bad. Better than when he didn’t care who he hurt as long as he had his fun.

The company certainly helps. Despite being a brilliant strategist and good team leader, Rogers acts like he has a stick up his ass at times, but Tony chalks that up to him being an ex-Army vet disillusioned with life, so he can’t really hold it against him. Romanoff is a natural grifter, always putting on the right face at the right time--except when it really matters with the few people who she actually cares about. Lang’s always been a Robin Hood type, a thief with a heart of gold and the worst sense of humor Tony’s ever seen.

And then there’s Odinson.

Thor Odinson is the muscle (understandably so, when you see him), and that’s about all Tony knows about him. He doesn’t talk much, and when he does talk it’s nothing of substance. Tony, chronically unable to shut up, recognizes the move as one he habitually employs. Say a lot of nothing and eventually people stop asking.

But he also notices the little things Thor does. There’s always Lang’s favorite brand of cookies in the kitchen of the apartment they plan jobs out of. One day he walks in on Thor cutting Romanoff’s hair in the bathroom. Another time Tony sees him showing Rogers videos of dogs doing dumb things when Rogers is having one of his Bad Days. It’s not exactly the kind of stuff a hardened criminal does.

“So what’s your deal?” he asks, the two of them in the middle of setting up Tony’s equipment in the back of an ice cream truck for their latest job involving outing a zoo director who’s running an illegal poaching ring. Usually Romanoff helps him, but she’s busy pretending to be a Russian lion tamer with unsavory connections.

Thor glances over at him, not looking particularly concerned with the questioning. “Am I doing it wrong?”

“What? No, the computer’s fine. I mean you.”

“What about me?”

“I don’t know, that’s what I’m asking!”

“I don’t understand the question,” Thor says with the finality of a man who very much understands and doesn’t care to continue. “Where does this go?”

Tony sighs and points, watching Thor set the box where he wants it. “Really? You come out of nowhere like this big, tough, macho guy with a dark past, then you eat Lucky Charms for breakfast and get mad when someone does the sudoku in the newspaper before you?”

“Are you upset because Lucky Charms aren’t hardcore enough?”

“Look. I think we’ve all done stuff we’re not proud of in the past. You don’t have to hide it.”

Thor stops unpacking the box and looks at Tony with an irritated furrow in his brow. “What do you expect me to do, Stark? Cry on your shoulder about my trauma?”

“Oh, God, no. We probably don’t have time for all that. It just wouldn’t kill you to be, I don’t know, a little more honest.”

Thor snorts and turns the rest of the way around to face Tony, leaning in as he says, “All right, how’s this for honesty? Mind your own damn business.”

Overall, not a great start.

The rest of it’s not great either, as Tony ends up running for his life after a tiger unexpectedly gets loose during the last leg of their plan.

“Shut up and get in here,” someone says out of nowhere, pulling him into a supply closet. Tony stumbles into what feels like a brick wall before realizing it’s apparently just Thor. Tony goes quiet for once, standing completely still against Thor’s chest as he tries to listen for the tiger in the hall. Thor has a hand protectively splayed across the small of Tony’s back and doesn’t seem to realize it’s there.

“Maybe we should open some of these cleaning supplies,” Tony whispers as quietly as he can while still being audible. “Throw it off the scent.”

Thor shushes him again, and Tony falls silent, heart pounding in his ears. Eventually he chances a look up, moving his head as minimally as possible. Thor is staring at the door, gaze serious, his other hand at his ear as he listens to whatever’s being said over the comms that Tony made for the team a few jobs ago. Tony’s earpiece fell out while he was running, so that’s definitely going on the top of his to-do list. Resize the damn comms.

Finally Thor drops his hand back to his side and says, “They’ve lured the tiger back into a secure location. The cops are here and they’ve got Antonov.”

Tony lets out a sigh of relief on both counts. Despite the hiccup with the tiger, their plan still worked. With any luck, the poaching ring will be shut down with their leader gone and their organization exposed.

“You can let go of me now,” Thor says, startling Tony out of his convoluted train of thought about tigers and communicators and taking down another bad guy.

“Hm?” Tony looks up, uncomprehending.

Thor nods down at Tony’s hands still clutching at Thor’s shirt. Tony looks down too, surprised to see himself holding onto Thor at all.

“Your hand’s still on my back,” he says, which seems to surprise Thor just as much. Slowly, he withdraws his hand from Tony’s back, and Tony lets go of his shirt, taking a step back in the tiny closet.

“Okay. We will never speak of this again,” Thor tells him.

“Sounds good,” Tony agrees with a nod.

And they don’t speak of it again, simple as that. But Tony can’t help noticing that sometimes Thor touches him when he doesn’t really need to. Small touches, always friendly or helpful, like a hand on his arm as he helps Tony climb up into the back of a truck, or a steadying hand on Tony’s shoulder when he gets mad at some dickbag jerk they’re conning and nearly blows their cover. Or when he wraps an arm around Tony’s shoulders and puts a hand on the back of his head the first time Tony ever shoots someone, leading him away and letting him rest his forehead against Thor’s shoulder.

So Thor may not be a man of many words, but he can read people, even Tony, and that’s the most surprising thing about him in Tony’s opinion. Maybe one day Thor will be willing to show the cards in his hand, possibly around the same time Tony’d be willing to show his own. Until then they’ll just have to keep communicating in the small ways they know how and hope for the best.


End file.
